“So much more goes into qualifying now and it definitely makes it even more special to win a pole,” the 23-year Team Penske driver said after turning in a record lap of 27.939 seconds at 193.278 mph to edge teammate Brad Keselowski, whose best time was 27.985. It was the reverse order of the front row from last week in Phoenix.

Logano won two of the last three rounds of the new qualifying procedure. All 48 cars were on the 1.5-mile track in the first 25-minute session, which resulted in some narrow escapes and cars closing in on one another at more than 120 mph, which was topped by Brian Vickers at 27.980. Among the 24 who advanced into the 10-minute second round, all of whom also broke the existing track record, Logano went the quickest in 27.993, followed by Clint Bowyer.

In the last five-minute session, Logano posted the best time and won his eighth career pole in 186 Sprint Cup races. Bowyer was third behind Keselowski, followed by rookie Austin Dillon, Jimmie Johnson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Jamie McMurray, Aric Almirola, Vickers, Ryan Newman and Martin Truex.

It was a double win of sorts for the Penske team. Team owner Roger Penske scored his first hole-in-one earlier in the day.

“To have a Penske front row the last two weekends at two completely different tracks just goes to show how hard these guys have been working. When you work hard, the results come,” said Logano. “We got blocked on the track a little bit and didn’t get our first run in very well.

“We’re learning what the best strategy is of when to go out, when to cool your motor off, when to cool your times.”

With seven minutes remaining in the first session, Logano was not in, but recovered to finish 18th in 10 laps, only one of four drivers with at least that many laps. He turned in five laps in the second session and one in the last.

Keselowski had a theory on why the Fords are up front.

“The cars are fast and I doin’t think it’s much more difficult than that,” said Keselowski, wo ran five laps in the three sessions (three in the second). “When you’ve got fast cars, it makes your life a lot easier and Team Penske has done a great job of finding the speed in qualifying trim.”

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The talk of the day at the track revolved around the cool-down procedures employed by the drivers. It wasn’t that prevalent with 24 cars running, but the opening session was quite stressful to some.

“I’m not used to it. Our normal deal is to be scared once a weekend,” said Bowyer. “Three times is a lot to ask. I’m not a huge fan of the cool-down deal, I really hopes NASCAR looks at that.

“The cool-down procedure is dangerous. We’ve got to stop that.”

The Michael Waltrip Racing driver almost had an incident with Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was on the apron cooling off as Boywer was completing a hot lap. Unaware of the fast-closing Bowyer, Earnhradt pulled out in front.

“That’s not the guy you want to hit at a 140 mph (difference),” said Boywer. “That might have hurt me and Dale Jr., and that would be bad for business.”